Gottfrid Svartholm
Encyclopedia
Per Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (born 17 October 1984), alias anakata, is a Swedish
computer specialist, known as the co-owner of the web hosting company PRQ
and co-founder of the BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay
together with Fredrik Neij
and Peter Sunde
. He has also created the tracker software Hypercube (open source software under no specific license) which was used to run The Pirate Bay web site and tracker.
Parts of an interview with Svartholm commenting on the May 2006 police raid
of The Pirate Bay
are featured in Good Copy Bad Copy
and Steal This Film
.
operators — Peter Sunde
, Fredrik Neij
, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström
(CEO of The Pirate Bay's former ISP) — were charged with "promoting other people’s infringements of copyright laws". The trial
began on 16 February 2009. On 17 April 2009, Sunde and his co-defendants were found to be guilty of "assisting in making copyright content available" in the Stockholm
district court (tingsrätt
en). Each defendant was sentenced to one year in prison and they were ordered to pay damages of 30 million SEK
(approximately €2,740,900 or US$
3,620,000), to be apportioned between the four defendants. The defendants lawyers have appealed to the Svea Court of Appeal
together with a request for a retrial in the district court because of the recent suspicion of bias on behalf of judge Tomas Norström. Under Swedish law, the verdict is not lawful until all appeals have been processed.
As of April 20, 2009, Svartholm is the subject of an investigation by Swedish prosecutors looking into his role in The Student Bay, a file sharing site specializing in academic texts. Svartholm claims he had no knowledge of the site. The site was reported by the Swedish Association for Educational Writers in December 2008 claiming it violated copyright law.
In October 2009, Stockholm District Court ordered that Svartholm is banned from operating the Pirate Bay, despite no longer living in Sweden, and that the Pirate Bay is also no longer located in Sweden.
In October 2011, the Swedish courts ordered that Svartholm be jailed for not attending a court appearance. However, Svartholm's whereabouts are currently unknown.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
computer specialist, known as the co-owner of the web hosting company PRQ
PRQ
PeRiQuito AB is a Swedish Internet service provider and web hosting company created in 2004.-Ownership:Based in Stockholm, PRQ is owned by Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij, two founders of The Pirate Bay.- Business model :...
and co-founder of the BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay is a Swedish website which hosts magnet links and .torrent files, which allow users to share electronic files, including multimedia, computer games and software via BitTorrent...
together with Fredrik Neij
Fredrik Neij
Hans Fredrik Lennart Neij , a.k.a. TiAMO, is a co-founder of The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent index site and tracker. He also owned the web host PRQ, which previously hosted The Pirate Bay....
and Peter Sunde
Peter Sunde
Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi is an IT expert with Norwegian and Finnish roots. He is best known for being a co-founder and the spokesperson of The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent tracker site.-Personal life:...
. He has also created the tracker software Hypercube (open source software under no specific license) which was used to run The Pirate Bay web site and tracker.
Parts of an interview with Svartholm commenting on the May 2006 police raid
The Pirate Bay raid
The Pirate Bay raid took place on 31 May 2006 in Stockholm, when The Pirate Bay, a Swedish website that indexes torrent files, was raided by Swedish police, causing it to go offline for three days. Upon reopening, the site's number of visitors more than doubled; the increased popularity attributed...
of The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay is a Swedish website which hosts magnet links and .torrent files, which allow users to share electronic files, including multimedia, computer games and software via BitTorrent...
are featured in Good Copy Bad Copy
Good Copy Bad Copy
Good Copy Bad Copy, A documentary about the current state of copyright and culture, is a documentary about copyright and culture in the context of Internet, peer-to-peer file sharing and other technological advances, directed by Andreas Johnsen, Ralf Christensen, and Henrik Moltke.It features...
and Steal This Film
Steal This Film
Steal This Film is a film series documenting the movement against intellectual property produced by The League of Noble Peers and released via the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol....
.
Legal issues
On 31 January 2008, The Pirate BayThe Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay is a Swedish website which hosts magnet links and .torrent files, which allow users to share electronic files, including multimedia, computer games and software via BitTorrent...
operators — Peter Sunde
Peter Sunde
Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi is an IT expert with Norwegian and Finnish roots. He is best known for being a co-founder and the spokesperson of The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent tracker site.-Personal life:...
, Fredrik Neij
Fredrik Neij
Hans Fredrik Lennart Neij , a.k.a. TiAMO, is a co-founder of The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent index site and tracker. He also owned the web host PRQ, which previously hosted The Pirate Bay....
, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström
Carl Lundström
Carl Ulf Sture Lundström is a Swedish businessman.Carl Lundström is the son of Ulf Lundström and the grandson of Karl Edvard Lundström, founder of the world's largest crisp bread producer Wasabröd. When his father Ulf Lundström died in 1973, Carl Lundström was one of five heirs to Wasabröd and its...
(CEO of The Pirate Bay's former ISP) — were charged with "promoting other people’s infringements of copyright laws". The trial
The Pirate Bay trial
The Pirate Bay trial is a joint criminal and civil prosecution in Sweden of four individuals charged for promoting the copyright infringement of others with the torrent tracking website The Pirate Bay...
began on 16 February 2009. On 17 April 2009, Sunde and his co-defendants were found to be guilty of "assisting in making copyright content available" in the Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
district court (tingsrätt
Tingsrätt
Tingsrätt , käräjäoikeus or tingrett is a term used for district courts in Sweden, Finland and Norway...
en). Each defendant was sentenced to one year in prison and they were ordered to pay damages of 30 million SEK
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
(approximately €2,740,900 or US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
3,620,000), to be apportioned between the four defendants. The defendants lawyers have appealed to the Svea Court of Appeal
Svea Court of Appeal
The Svea Court of Appeal , located in Stockholm, is one of six appellate courts in the Swedish legal system. It was founded in 1614 and was the highest court in Sweden until 1789, when the Supreme Court of Sweden was established....
together with a request for a retrial in the district court because of the recent suspicion of bias on behalf of judge Tomas Norström. Under Swedish law, the verdict is not lawful until all appeals have been processed.
As of April 20, 2009, Svartholm is the subject of an investigation by Swedish prosecutors looking into his role in The Student Bay, a file sharing site specializing in academic texts. Svartholm claims he had no knowledge of the site. The site was reported by the Swedish Association for Educational Writers in December 2008 claiming it violated copyright law.
In October 2009, Stockholm District Court ordered that Svartholm is banned from operating the Pirate Bay, despite no longer living in Sweden, and that the Pirate Bay is also no longer located in Sweden.
In October 2011, the Swedish courts ordered that Svartholm be jailed for not attending a court appearance. However, Svartholm's whereabouts are currently unknown.